Despite Ongoing Battle With Mercedes, Carlos Sainz Wary of Former Team’s Charge Up the Field

Currently, the battle for P2 in the world championship is between Mercedes and Ferrari. However, the latter’s driver and this season’s only non-Red Bull race winner Carlos Sainz is wary of a looming threat, as per Racing News 365. This threat, he believes comes in the form of his ex-team, McLaren, who have made major strides this season.

When the season started, the focus was on Aston Martin who had made immense progress over the winter break. Red Bull was always going to run away with the title. But fans of the sport were excited to see Aston Martin, led by Fernando Alonso, compete for P2.

Soon after their performance started falling off, Mercedes entered the mix. As the Silverstone-based team began deteriorating further, up came Ferrari too, who became resurgent in the second half of the season. However, no one’s revival has been as staggering as McLaren’s who are now arguably, the second-fastest team in the grid. This has Carlos Sainz extremely worried.

Carlos Sainz talks about former team McLaren’s threat

Sainz was a McLaren driver from 2019 to 2020. He was teammates with Lando Norris, and worked under Zak Brown, so the Spaniard knows the Woking-based outfit quite well. Their poor start to the season means they are still P5 in the standings- within touching distance of overtaking Aston Martin in P4.

However, as Ferrari focuses on getting P2 from Mercedes in the final five races this season, Sainz thinks about McLaren, who are 79 points behind them. Of course, Ferrari has to drastically mess things up for the British team to catch them, but Sainz wants to remain alert of a team that is incredibly good at the moment.

One week on from one of the most gruelling grand prix in recent memory… 🏆🏆#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/JwbL2TeQ29

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) October 15, 2023

However, he is also confident that they will hold McLaren off, even if they put up a charge. “That doesn’t mean McLaren won’t walk in anymore,” the Madrid-born driver said as per Racing News 365. “In fact, I think they will be faster in almost all of the remaining Grands Prix weekends. They currently have a super fast car.”

Sainz with a point to prove?

2023 has been a year of mixed results for Sainz, once again. He has outperformed Charles Leclerc in terms of results so far, being ahead of the Monegasque in the championship standings. Still, it is widely believed that Ferrari prefers their golden boy Leclerc.

Howdy Austin!! 🤠

–#Carlossainz pic.twitter.com/J5OsZjRVGk

— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) October 19, 2023

Sainz suggests that internally, nothing is wrong and they don’t talk about who the number one driver is. Still, the 29-year-old will be looking to perform better than Leclerc in the last five races, in order to get the final laugh.